School board adopts budget

Wednesday

Jun 26, 2013 at 9:06 PMJun 26, 2013 at 9:07 PM

The Palmyra R-1 Board of Education adopted the 2013-14 budget during a special meeting on June 25.

The Palmyra R-1 Board of Education adopted the 2013-14 budget during a special meeting on June 25.The budget has total operating expenditures of $9,819,332 and an operating surplus of $10,963. The operating levy used in the development of the budget is $3.36. This operating levy reflects a $0.39 voluntary rollback from the tax rate ceiling. Some highlights of this budget are a $1,000 increase to the base salary for teachers in addition to the $400 vertical step on the salary schedule for years of experience given to teachers, for a total raise in teacher pay of $1,400. Non-certified staff will receive a 3.3 percent raise in addition to their step as well. The budget reflects an increase of two teacher Full Time Equivalency (FTE) teaching positions. For the fourth year in a row, Career Ladder will not be funded. An increase of 12 percent for the cost of health insurance for fiscal year 2014 is included. Since Palmyra R-1 changed health insurance cooperatives, this increase continues to be less that the district was paying in fiscal year 2013. For the second time in 10 years there will not be an increase for the Missouri Teacher Retirement System or for the Missouri Non-Teacher Retirement System. Capital improvements of approximately $350,000 include: Seven sections of new middle school roof, house demolition and gravel parking at the middle school, high school gym roof repairs, football field bleacher repair, asphalt sealing at the elementary school, and exterior painting of the Agriculture building at the high school. This budget does include the purchase of one new school bus, one used school bus, and a new maintenance truck. In other regular business the board accepted the resignation of Katheryn Maddox (MOTIONS, LLC) for occupational therapy services.The board accepted the resignation from Julie Lehenbauer, elementary school teacher.